Portable wireless gateway

ABSTRACT

A portable gateway is provided for constituting a wireless bridge between two wireless networks. The portable gateway ( 1 ) has at least one slot ( 2, 3 ), preferably two slots, for receiving an expansion card ( 4, 5 ) for providing wireless connectivity towards a selected wireless network. The gateway may be designed to be carried in a pocket or a briefcase, and can easily be adapted for communication towards any selected wireless network.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a gateway, and in particular toa gateway designed to constitute a wireless bridge between two wirelessnetworks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

[0002] Today, many types of different wireless networks exist. Thedifferent networks typically use different radio frequency transmissionmethods and specific communication protocols. Thus, when information isto be transmitted over two different networks from a transmitter to areceiver, the information must in most cases be translated or transcodedfrom a first format into a second format when the information is passedfrom the first network to the second network. Such a translation isusually performed by a so-called gateway. Hence, the gateway constitutesa communication bridge between the two different networks.

SUMMARY

[0003] It is an object of the present invention to provide a new type ofgateway enabling many new mobile applications, and for enhancingexisting applications, by providing a bridge between different wirelesscommunications environments.

[0004] This object and others are obtained by a portable gatewayproviding a wireless bridge between two wireless networks, in particularbetween a Bluetooth network and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN).The portable gateway may comprise a first wireless communication unitfor communicating towards a first wireless network, a second wirelesscommunication unit for communicating towards a second wireless network,and a format conversion unit for converting the format of communicatedsignals between the formats used by the first and second wirelessnetwork, respectively.

[0005] According to the invention, the portable gateway has at least oneslot, preferably two slots, for receiving an expansion card, sometimesreferred to as a plug-in card, for providing wireless connectivitytowards a selected wireless network. By way of example, the expansioncard may be any of: a PC Card, a CompactFlash card and an SD (SecureDigital) card. By selecting one or two suitable expansion cards, theportable gateway may constitute a wireless bridge between any selectedwireless networks.

[0006] The new applications, and the existing applications, may, inparticular, include devices such as mobile phones, Personal DigitalAssistants (PDA's), or other mobile devices, equipped with WirelessApplication Protocol (WAP) and means for Bluetooth connectivity.

[0007] For these and other devices, the gateway as described herein willenable new mobile Internet applications, in particular such applicationsrequiring transmission speeds in the range of approximately 100 kbit/sto 1 Mbit/s. Also, future applications will involve even highertransmission speeds.

[0008] These and other mobile applications are enabled by using onewireless network, such as Bluetooth, as the carrier for the Internetaccess of the device by communicating to the gateway, which is, in turnaccessing the Internet, by another wireless network, e.g. by means of aW LAN.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] The present invention will now be described in more detail andwith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0010]FIG. 1 is a view from above of a gateway.

[0011]FIG. 2 is the view in FIG. 1 of the gateway having its coverremoved.

[0012]FIG. 3 is a cross section of the gateway in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0013]FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a portable gateway.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] In FIG. 1, a view from above of a portable gateway 1 is shown.The gateway 1 comprises two slots 2 and 3 for receiving an expansioncard, also referred to as a plug-in card, for providing wirelessconnectivity. Each expansion card then constitutes a wirelesscommunication unit for communicating towards a selectable wirelessnetwork. The expansion card is in this example a PC Card (PCMCIA), butmay alternatively be a CompactFlash card or an SD (Secure Digital) card.The invention is thus not limited to any particular expansion card. Inthis example, each of the two slots 2 and 3 receives a PC Card 4 and 5,respectively. The PC Card slots are located on two different sidesfacing each other, and preferably, the gateway has an elongated shape.The size of the gateway 1 is preferably large enough for encompassingthe PC Cards, but small enough to fit inside a pocket or a smallbriefcase. In a preferred embodiment, the gateway is designed as a thin,essentially rectangular, unit having the measures of only 142×78×28 mm.

[0015] In FIG. 2, the gateway 1 is shown with its cover being removed.Further, the gateway comprises a battery 6 and a control unit 7, asshown in FIG. 3.

[0016] The first PC Card 4 provides an interface towards a firstwireless network, for example a Bluetooth network, and the second PCCard 5 provides an interface towards a second wireless network, forexample a W LAN network or a GSM/GPRS network or a UMTS network.

[0017] In another preferred embodiment, one of the interfaces towardsthe wireless networks is a wireless communication unit integrated in theportable gateway 1. Thus, the gateway may have only one slot forreceiving an expansion card. For example, if the gateway is designed toalways be connected to a Bluetooth network and to be connected toanother wireless network, which may be selected, or if the gateway hassome specific requirements, i.e. a smart card with a subscriptionidentification module, SIM, or any specific security application, thegateway may have an integrated permanent communication unit providing aninterface to the Bluetooth network, and only one expansion card slot forproviding an interface to the other selectable wireless network.

[0018]FIG. 4 illustrates schematically a portable gateway in accordancewith the invention. The portable gateway 400 comprises a first wirelesscommunication unit 402, including an antenna 404, for communicatingtowards a first wireless network, not shown, and a second wirelesscommunication unit 406, including an antenna 408, for communicatingtowards a second wireless network, likewise not shown. In oneembodiment, each of the wireless communication units 402 and 406 maycomprise a selectable expansion card, not shown in FIG. 4, inserted intoa card slot as described above, for providing communication towards acorresponding selected wireless network. In another embodiment, one ofthe wireless communication units 402, 406 may be an integrated wirelesscommunication unit for communication towards a predetermined wirelessnetwork. The antennas 404, 408 may be integrated with the communicationunits 402, 406 or may be separate antennas connected thereto.

[0019] The gateway 400 further comprises a format conversion unit 410for converting the format of communicated signals between the formatsused by the first and second wireless network, respectively. The formatconversion typically involves transcoding of the signals. The battery 6and the control unit 7 shown in FIG. 3 are not shown in FIG. 4.

[0020] For portable gateways between two wireless systems, undesiredsignal interference may in some circumstances occur between the signalsfrom the two antennas 404, 408, being used for access to the twowireless networks. This may be the case if the two antennas are mountedin close proximity, e.g. if the gateway is using two expansion cardshaving integrated or extending antennas, in particular if one card isplaced on top of the other. Thus, in the case when two expansion cardsare used, such signal interference may be avoided, or at least reduced,by locating the expansion cards, with the antennas located on oppositesides of the portable gateway a maximum distance apart.

[0021] In the preferred embodiment of a gateway shown in FIG. 1, usingtwo expansion cards, this is achieved by designing the slots in oneplane, but with their entry slots maximally separated, resulting in amaximum distance between the antennas used for communication towards thetwo wireless networks.

[0022] This may also be the case, when using one expansion card foraccess to a selected wireless network, and an integrated or extendingantenna for access to a predetermined wireless network, if therespective antennas are not located on opposite sides of the portablegateway.

[0023] Likewise, in the case when one expansion card is used, it isadvantageous to arrange the antennas on opposite sides of the portablegateway, with a maximum distance apart.

[0024] The invention as described herein may be used for providing awireless access method towards: the Internet for mobile phones (orPDA's), which is fast, and can be charged at flat rate.

[0025] By providing this alternative method of Internet access, thedevice as described herein will enhance many new applications, such asWAP (over Bluetooth, including voice/audio), enable Music (MPEG-3),streaming Video and Image telephony (MPEG-4), in mobile phones (orPDA's), and many other Internet applications requiring 0.5-1 Mbit/s.

[0026] While the invention has been described with reference to specificexemplary embodiments, the description is only intended to illustratethe inventive concept and should not be taken as limiting the scope ofthe invention. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents maybe used without departing from the spirit of the invention, which isdefined by the appended claims.

1. A gateway for providing a bridge between a first network and a secondnetwork, characterised in that the gateway is portable and provides awireless bridge between the first and second networks, which arewireless networks, and that the gateway further comprises at least oneexpansion card slot for receiving an expansion card constituting awireless interface towards one of the wireless networks.
 2. A gatewayaccording to claim 1, characterised by a first wireless communicationunit for communicating towards the first wireless network, and a secondwireless communication unit for communicating towards the secondwireless network, wherein at least one of the first and secondcommunication units comprises an expansion card.
 3. A gateway accordingto claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the gateway comprises twoexpansion card slots for receiving two expansion cards, eachconstituting a wireless communication unit as an interface towards oneof the wireless networks.
 4. A gateway according to claim 1 or 2,characterised in that the gateway comprises one integrated communicationunit as an interface towards a predetermined wireless network, and thatthe gateway further comprises one expansion card slot for receiving anexpansion card constituting a wireless communication unit as aninterface towards a selected wireless network.
 5. A gateway according toany of claims 2-4, characterised in that each of the wirelesscommunication units includes an antenna, and that the two antennas arepositioned on opposite sides of the gateway, thereby spacing theantennas apart maximally.
 6. A gateway according to claim 5, wherein twoexpansion card slots are used for receiving two expansion cards,characterised in that the antennas of the expansion cards are spacedapart by placing the two expansion card slot entries on different sidesof the gateway.
 7. A gateway according to any of claims 1-6,characterised in that one of the wireless networks is a Bluetoothnetwork, and the other is a Wireless Local Area Network.
 8. A gatewayaccording to any of claims 1-6, characterised in that one of thewireless networks is a cellular wireless network.
 9. A gateway accordingto claim 8, characterised in that the cellular network is a GSM (GlobalSystem for Mobile communication), or a GPRS (General Packet RadioService), or a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System)network.
 10. A gateway according to any of claims 1-9, characterised inthat the expansion card(s) is any of: a PC Card, a CompactFlash card andan SD (Secure Digital) card.